Unofficial news and tips about Google

May 30, 2008

New Google Favicon

Many people noticed a small change: Google has a new favicon. A favicon is a small image that is generally used to reflect the identity of a web site. You can find it in the address bar, in your browser's tabs, in the list of bookmarks or in some feed readers like Bloglines.

Google's favicon is hosted at google.com/favicon.ico and it's a 16x16 pixels image, a standard size for favicons. Google replaced the upper-case "G" in blue border, green and red borders with a lower-case purple "g" in a rounded corner rectangle.

The first time when I saw the new favicon at Google Image Search, I thought there was something wrong with my browser's cache or I typed an incorrect address. Google's new favicon is less cheerful and comforting, but it makes a lot of sense: the small g is a symbol for infinity (∞). A googol (10100) is just a poor approximation for the huge amount of information that needs to be indexed, organized and made useful by Google.

Update 2: Search Engine Land has an official position from Google. "We recognized there was a need for a Google icon that would better work across multiple applications including web, mobile and client applications. We felt the small 'g' had many of the characteristics that best represent our brand: it's simple, playful, and unique. We will be looking to improve and enhance this icon as we move forward."

Update 3: Google says this is not the final favicon. "We tried in total more than 300 permutations [some of them are displayed below]. It was much harder than we thought at first. We wanted something distinctive and noticeable, so we aimed toward transparency or semi-transparency, so the image would have a more distinctive noticeable shape than just a block. We wanted something that embraced the colorfulness of the logo, yet wouldn't date itself." If you have some suggestions for Google's favicon, send them here.

Google New Favicon precursor too new revolutionary interface update? Why change something as inconspicuous (too normal end user – but obvious to web techies) as a favicon but so OFF standard of the current branding. They’ve (big 3) all had similar interfaces forever, great time since the MSN/Yahoo distraction to make an in your face, one up move. I can only hope, change rules!

It does seem very strange for such a strongly branded company to suddenly change its favicon. Definitely, wise eyes will be keeping an eye out for further, more significant changes. But perhaps, on the other hand, as all of us do from time to time, Google just felt the need to freshen up?

Given that the lowercase g is in the middle of their current logotype, I'm wondering if this heralds a new corporate brand, in which initial-cap Google becomes all-lowercase google. Perhaps a last-ditch attempt to save their brand name from the reality of having become a generic term.

The new google favicon it's not just a lowercase "G", it's also the "android" icon, if you carefully look at it, you could see the chest+neck+head+hair (sort of msn one) and this means they are pushing the company and project to a more popular and massive one, putting them to the same level of us, good hit

The lowercase g looks good, but the capital G mimics the start of Google's logo and I think that is more recognizable to people as Google instead of the lowercase g from the 2nd g in Google. That is the only reason I think they should do the same new style, but with a G instead of g.

There is no head, neck, etc... it's an exact copy of the blue 2nd g in the main google logo, just smaller. Only difference from size, is that it doesn't have a drop shadow and has a slightly gradient backdrop. But nothing else has been done to the "g".

THE NEW LOWERCASE G FAVICON IS HIDEOUS, IT IS DISTRACTING ME FROM MY NORMAL WEB BROWSING EXPERIENCE. CHANGE IS GOOD, BUT CHANGE IT TO SOMETHING THAT IS NOT GODAWFUL HIDEOUS. I CAN NOT SUPPORT A COMPANY WHO USES SUCH A DISGUSTING FAVICON. IF THIS ABOMINATION IS NOT REVERTED OR CHANGED TO A MORE PLEASANT ALTERNATIVE I WILL BE FORCED TO SELL ALL OF MY GOOGLE STOCK.

That post might have been mildly funny if it wasn't in ALL CAPS. Guess they like caps so much they can't read lowercase words. So my comments should be shrouded by all the lowercase letters I am using. :) I don't like the lowercase g. But at the end of the day, I don't really care.

Nick, www.google.com goes to either www.google.com or www.google.com/ig depending on if you are logged in or not and depending on if you have iGoogle set to classic mode or not. It has been this way for a super long time and has nothing to do with the changes from today. Since I use classic mode, then www.google.com stays www.google.com and does not redirect to www.google.com/ig

If you use a CRT monitor and have set it for a high pixel density for viewing photographs or for viewing text fonts in print quality, the favicon can be incredibly small. The old favicon with a relative large white space within the upper case "G" could be recognized by the large white space. The new one has smaller white spaces and can be unrecognizable when too small.

I opened the new favicon in XnView and zoomed in and out to and from tiny sizes. I discovered range in which the old upper case "G" remains recognizable but the lower case one disappears into a blob before both disappear.

This could also affect people with vision problems.

The older one is better because it remains more functional when scaled down.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks the new Google favicon should be shift+deleted. I'm sure there must be things behind that we can't understand right now because we don't have a clear picture of everything.

And I mean far beyond the symbolic layer of it all.

I think I haven't been so disapproving of something Google did in a long time.

the old one was just great... now i can't even find it among other tabs especially in Opera where the tab background is also blue... the only pardon would be if a new google logo would contain the "g" or "8" as the first letter

Google is smart to keep its identity fresh. Their brand is perhaps the most recognizable one in the world. It is certainly on the way to being so. With such a recognizable brand and one that we interact with each day a fresh look can be good (look at all the posts on the topic).

It would not be a good idea for everyone to change their favicon. However, if you do I'm sure that there will be a huge database (searchable, through Google) of Favicons. Quick trademark yours!

I think there will be a big relaunch this year (g--> 8 --> 2008) We will get surprised again I think!

Also, it's good commercial. Just count how often the brand "Google" (or should I better write "google" ;)) was called! So this could be anonther sign for a big change: they want google get talked, maybe for a big relaunch??!

Considering the amount of time the average person spends on Google searches for every inquiry imaginable, this unsightly new impostor icon does have some relevance besides from just another nit pick to complain about. Its counter intuitive stylistic idiocy,why change something that people know and like? makes me want to close any Google tabs i have open.

for all those that are perturbed or annoyed i suggest letting Google know however you see fit

I don't think this is minor. It's incredibly scary and ugly, and does not reflect the positive image I've known Google to have... It does look ghostly and ghastly. It's hideous. I disabled favicon settings in about:config in firefox but I miss gmail's icon, so I guess I will have to find a way to change the fav icon. It's important because people who have many tabs open at once (I have ten open right now) can find search results pages (for example) and Gmail easier. That's why they were created in the first place. Seriously google, what the hell?

What exactly is this new squiggly thing? Okay, I do know what it is, but what is it doing on my open tabs... I don't want to use Greasemonkey to bring the old one back, and I sure hope Google reacts to user feedback on the icon... The old one was so much more practical... I wish they'd just stay practical.. that's what they're know for.. I don't feel a need for artistic little favicon understatements right now...

I remembered some time ago (few months ago actually) personally visiting a supposedly Google's hidden experimental website (forget where I saw it, the founder proved that the experimental website comes from Google by proving that the IP address is the same as Google's IP address), guess what their theme color is... purple.

If (and only if) that website is an official Google project (instead of some Google's employees who have some spare time for their personal projects and host its site on a google server), I think this might be the beginning of the migration to the Google interface (which is an extremely radical change).

FYI (don't rely on this): The experimental site is heavy on Javascript, Web 2.0 experience, and some very unique features are: 1) user-sortable searches, potentially they might collect data on how user sort their search result to improve search result in the future or for other people, 2) a never ending page, when you reached the bottom-most result, it'll fetch some more result right below it, so no more paging (if you used Gmail mail program on your mobile phone, not the one from a web browser like Opera Mini or the internal browser, that looks like it, a never ending page)

I think the mistake here is to not be literal enough. The new thing is better than the old thing but by what degree of seperation? Based on facts alone one can see that the popularity of Google is based on this icon but also on other logos as well.

The old fav looked much better with this one. I think it's a huge mistake on their part. I'm using so many of their services (docs,analytics,image search,trends..) that it just does seem right. I also don't understand what is the added value they have doing this.

Ok, it's ugly and it looks like a toilet seat. But I don't care! What I care is that it has nothing to do with Google visual identity whatsoever and I really didn't know how come all my Google related browser tabs just disappeared. I just couldn't recognize it as something Google. Did they hire an Art Director from Microsoft (laughing)?

Maybe i'm addicted, but the new favicon is less noticeable, i usually work with 10-20 open web pages, and many of them ar G pages, its hard to identify G tab, because the new favicon is blurred. Its not the problem of G or g, it should be more flashy, because its important, it should be visible even when you are not even looking at it. Google, maybe your designer is on drugs?

Since years now google havent made any bad decisions, all the tools are great and people meet then with hands open. This decision is first that i dont like. And as i can see - i am not the only one. Maybe G stopped testing their stuff before release?It reminds me of a government, even though masses are protesting, team is to shamed to roll back its decision.

I've never known a corporation to mess about with their brand so much. The new favicon is pants and their logo isn't any better. The Google brand reminds me of the internet in general... useful but by no means perfect.

I prefer the old favicon because it was more distinctive. Easier to see, easier to recognize which tab in the multitude was Google's. I open lots of tabs and the older one made it easier to find my search engine. Not everyone uses a white browser theme, so this new one pretty much disappears into the background. On the original favicon, the capital G echoed the design of the logo...again making it easily identifiable. Also making it easier to see: the white background and color bars. It also looks like the "g" for ghostscript or Getty photo images website, so nothing original here. No, it doesn't make them look humble. Was that the point? Going for the Uriah Heep look?

Change is good. Try driving on a different side of the road. Try...oh, wait a minute... Maybe use some judgment first?

Okay, let's judge this by Google's stated goal: "We felt the small 'g' had many of the characteristics that best represent our brand: it's simple, playful, and unique. "

New Favicon: (1) Simple? Try blurry and shadowed. (2) Playful? How about boring. Using the faded blue favored by over-stressed executive types? (3) Unique? Clearly not. There are lots of examples of the "g" favicon already in use. And at 16x16 the font differences are way to subtle to make a difference to people's perceptions.

Old Favicon: (1) Simple. Clear and easy to see. Printed (not cursive) without excessive shadowing. (2) Playful. Yes, white with primary color bars on the sides makes the icon represent a child's building block. Something to play and build with...Google's previous image. (3) Unique. No doubt about this. No others constructed like this, unless there are some copy-cats out there that haven't shown themselves.

I'm writing this because some days after the release of this new favicon I am finding it more and more irritating to reference Google pages in my browser.

Ok change is good. In fact if an entire new look for Google came out I would probably feel better about it... But this is a week later and I am still not feeling it. It just blends in too much and doesn't scream Google enough for me to spot it in my tabs. Perhaps a stronger frame for the new icon? But still they need to make the rest of their site match the stylistic change. Most websites, I really, really, really don't care about the favicon.... but this is Google and I use/need to use it a lot.

dear effing lord... this much talk over the icon? It looks better....and does it really matter? Google has some of the worst, most childish styling ever...its a designer's nightmare and there have been several articles published by their brand / design team that they hate their logo and wish to change it.... probably the beginning of that process. If you hate the little g, just wait...

I kept opening multiple tabs in Firefox and then I could not find the Google page that I had open because of the icon. Then I remembered they changed the icon. Yes I agree the new icon is annoying, the constant daily logo changing is also annoying. Can't we just keep Google simple just like most people like it or at least have an option to change it back.

AAAA.071329Z JUNE 2008 Well I downloaded Realplayer basic 7 for No.11...Guess what I have now on my screen `IE` whereas before there was a nice capital `G`...not only that my service provider cannot help because the `W` Wanadoo old name its now Orange !!! That cost me 50p a minute this morning for them to say `Sorry cannot help`..£129 to change before March next year...I tried Systems Restore...If I was not living 6 floors up it would have gone out the window !!! All for now..........AR.

Its cool how they load as Favicons in the browser tabs :)! Anyways, I just felt compelled to do this even though I really need to get my blog PSD design finished. Anyways, I had a pretty fun time doing it. Take care Google heads!

Please put back the old icon or something with the upper case G like some of the samples shown. This lower case g looks like an 8, which is definitely not identifiable with Google. I thought it was something temporary for Google's 8th anniversary or so.

Please, bring the old favicon back. With the new favicon up, I feel like I'm looking at a phishing site or something differnt. Change is good, but Google has achieved "utility" status, as in... Google is not just a service, but an essential part of life for many. To change something that is so central to that service, is very troubling.

Check the length of this thread hopefully G realized they made mistake, let head(s) roll , sell the XXX guy to M$.Still this would be to embarrassing for G.The "thing" is as cool and catchy as the logo of mid fourty women soap. uagh!I'll try the grease monkey script but i don't know if it's able to change my FF search bar icon. If not we might do an extension.Cheers folks.

I too was originally worried that something had hijacked my browser. I finally did a google search to findout if it was responsible for this change. Thing is, while relieved that malware is not the case the new favicon reminds me of an old pair of bent goggles or eyewear....

They should use an ANIMATED favicon.Not a fast blinking one, but unobtrusive color changes in the border.The old G had a colored border, so the new g could have a colored border that slowly changes colors. This would be cool.

I prefer the old one, but what really gets me is the fact that Google has been spending all this time stewing over what favicon to use ("We tried in total more than 300 permutations...It was much harder than we thought at first.")instead of putting their time and effort into responding to repeated requests from users to add a task/to-do list feature to their products (see Google Groups: Petition for a Todo List).

Google's new favicon does not have adequate contrast between the "g" and its background, especially when the background is about the same color as the "g", as it is on my screen. We need the old "G" favicon, or a way to make the new background a solid color that contrasts with the "g".

I think this new icon is clever. It softens the hard edges of a bullying capital 'G'. The 2 circular swirls of this Times Romanesque lower case 'g' make it look more like an unthreatening ant. These swirls also hint at the double 'o's in the company's name. Turn it a bit on its side, and the icon also looks like reading glasses (which to a middle-aged user such as myself, is suggestive of one of the first things I need to find before I can find other things).